Average Handle Time (AHT) Calculator
Average handle time for calls, chats or emails from total talk, hold and after-call work time: AHT in seconds and mm:ss, the split by component, cost per contact, capacity per agent hour, occupancy, pacing to a target AHT, and the staffing and yearly value of cutting seconds.
How it works
AHT = (total talk + total hold + total after-call work) ÷ contacts handled; agent time per chat = AHT ÷ chats at once; contacts per agent hour = 3,600 ÷ agent time; cost per contact = agent time ÷ 3,600 × cost per hour; occupancy = handle hours ÷ available hours; hours saved = volume × seconds removed ÷ 3,600; FTE = hours saved ÷ productive hours per day; pace needed = (target × all contacts − time so far) ÷ remaining contacts
Average handle time is the full agent time consumed per contact: conversation, the customer on hold, and the wrap-up work before the agent is ready for the next one. Add the three totals for a period and divide by the contacts handled in that same period — a weighted average, which is more accurate than averaging daily or per-agent AHT figures. For chat, agents often run two or three conversations at once, so the agent time each chat really costs is the open time divided by that concurrency; set the channel to Chat to see it. The calculator then turns AHT into capacity per agent hour, cost per contact, total agent-hours, occupancy (if you enter the agent time available) and the daily workload for your volume. AHT is the workload unit that Erlang C multiplies by volume, so it drives staffing directly — fifteen seconds across 4,000 daily calls is nearly seventeen agent-hours a day, and the table shows the value of other cuts. With a target AHT and the contacts left in the shift, it also works out the average you would need on the rest to finish on target. Manage AHT by removing work that adds no value (long holds while searching, manual note-taking) rather than pushing agents to rush, which shows up later as repeat contacts and lower first-contact resolution.
Worked example
1,150 min talk, 130 min hold and 320 min wrap-up over 320 calls: (1,150 + 130 + 320) × 60 = 96,000 s ÷ 320 = an AHT of 300 s (5:00) — 216 s talk, 24 s hold, 60 s after-call work. That is 12 calls per agent hour (10.2 at 85% occupancy) and $2.33 per call at $28 an hour. Removing 15 s on 4,000 daily calls saves 16.7 agent-hours a day, about 2.6 FTE at 6.5 productive hours, or $116,667 a year over 250 working days. With a 4:30 target and 80 calls left, the remaining calls would need to average 150 s to finish the period at 270 s.
Frequently asked questions
Does AHT include ring time or queue time?
No — those are customer-side waits measured as ASA. AHT counts only time an agent is occupied by the contact.
Should I set AHT targets for agents?
Use it for planning and to spot outliers, but coach on first-contact resolution and quality; hard AHT targets encourage transfers and premature hang-ups.
How do I calculate AHT for chat?
Use the same formula on chat open time, hold and wrap-up. Because agents usually handle several chats at once, divide by the average concurrency to get the agent time each chat costs — that is the figure to use for capacity and staffing.
Why not just average each agent’s AHT?
Agents handle different numbers of contacts, so a simple average of their AHTs over- or under-weights some of them. Add all the handle time and divide by all the contacts instead, which is what this calculator does.
What is a good AHT?
It depends on the work: under 4 minutes is normal for simple phone transactions, 4–7 minutes for general customer service and more for technical support. Chats often run 3–10 minutes of open time and emails 4–8 minutes of handling. Compare against your own history by call type rather than a single industry number.
Related calculators
Workforce planning estimate; local employment law, union agreements and your own historical data should govern actual schedules and targets.